Andrew Lloyd Webber, left, John Legend, and Tim Rice winners of the award for outstanding variety special for “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” poses in the press room during night two of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at The Microsoft Theater on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

By

Robert Goldrich

LOS ANGELES

--

The concluding night (9/9) of the weekend Creative Arts Emmy Awards saw two notables who recently passed away earn major wins, while joining the exclusive ranks of EGOT honorees were three key contributors to NBC’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert.

On the latter score, performer John Legend, composer Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyricist Tim Rice joined the elite club of EGOT winners. With the musical earning the Emmy for Best Live Variety Special, EPs Legend, Lloyd Webber and Rice added the TV Academy honor to their Tonys, Grammys and Oscars. The three become the 13th, 14th and 15th artisans to win all four show business awards. Among those previously accomplishing this feat were Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, Mike Nichols and Whoppi Goldberg.

Meanwhile the dead were honored and remembered during the Creative Arts Emmy proceedings--namely Craig Zadan and Anthony Bourdain. Zadan, who died last month, was an EP on Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert, a role which earned him his first career Emmy.

Bourdain, who committed suicide back in June, was honored with six Emmys--five for his Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown series (CNN) and one for Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown (CNN.com), a digital show which topped the Outstanding Short-Form Non-Fiction or Reality category.

Bourdain’s CNN series earned distinction for: Outstanding Informational Series; Outstanding Picture Editing For A Nonfiction Program (Hunter Gross, ACE) for the “Lagos” episode; Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera), also for “Lagos” (re-recording mixer Benny Mouthon, CAS); Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera) for the “Seattle” episode (sound editors Brian Bracken and Nick Brigden); and Outstanding Writing For A Nonfiction Program on the strength of Bourdain’s penning of the “Southern Italy” episode.

Lydia Tenaglia, EP of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, accepted the writing Emmy for Bourdain. She shared, “Tony was nominated for this Emmy many times, but it had always eluded him. So it is with tremendous bittersweetness that I accept it on his behalf.” Bourdain was a nine-time Best Writing For A Nonfiction Program Emmy nominee.

Documentary winnersThe Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (HBO)--exec produced by Judd Apatow, among others--earned the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

Brett Morgen won for Outstanding Directing For Documentary/Nonfiction Program on the basis of his Jane Goodall masterpiece Jane (National Geographic).

Creative Arts tallyTied for the lead with the most Emmy wins after this year’s two-day Creative Arts Emmys were Game Of Thrones (HBO) and Saturday Night Live (NBC) with seven apiece. Next with five Emmy Awards each were Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.

Scoring four Emmys apiece were RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) and The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (FX Networks).

Coming away with three Emmys each were Atlanta (FX Networks), Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO), Queer Eye (Netflix), The Crown (Netflix), The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon), the “USS Callister” installment of Black Mirror (Netflix), and Westworld (HBO).

On the network scorecard after the Creative Arts Emmys, HBO led the way with 17 wins, followed by Netflix with 16, NBC with 15, CNN with eight, and FX Networks with seven.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIESJOHN OLIVER, Written byTIM CARVELL, Written byRAQUEL D’APICE, Written byJOSH GONDELMAN, Written byDAN GUREWITCH, Written byGEOFF HAGGERTY, Written byJEFF MAURER, Written byBRIAN PARISE, Written bySCOTT SHERMAN, Written byBEN SILVA, Written byWILL TRACY, Written byJILL TWISS, Written bySEENA VALI, Written byJULI WEINER, Written byHBOLast Week Tonight With John Oliver

OUTSTANDING COSTUMES FOR VARIETY, NONFICTION OR REALITY PROGRAMMING(Area Award: Possibility of one or more than one award).ZALDY GOCO, Costume Designer VH1RuPaul’s Drag Race10s Across The Board / Costumes: RuPaul’s gowns

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR VARIETY PROGRAMMING(Area Award: Possibility of one, more than one or no award.)RYAN BARGER, Editor HBOLast Week Tonight With John OliverBorder Patrol (segment)

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A VARIETY, REALITY OR REALITYCOMPETITION SERIES(Area Award: Possibility of one or more than one award).EUGENE LEE, Production DesignerAKIRA YOSHIMURA, Production DesignerKEITH IAN RAYWOOD, Production DesignerN. JOSEPH DETULLIO, Production DesignerNBCSaturday Night LiveHost Bill Hader

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL(Area Award: Possibility of one or more than one award).JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST, Production DesignerMELISSA SHAKUN, Art DirectorNBCJesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY(Juried Award: All entrants are screened by a jury of appropriate peer group members andone, more than one, or no award entry is awarded an Emmy.)MANDY MOORE, Choreographer FOXSo You Think You Can DanceRoutines: Brand New, To Make You Feel My Love

EXCEPTIONAL MERIT IN DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING(Juried Award: All entrants are screened by a jury of appropriate peer group members andone, more than one, or no award entry is awarded an Emmy.)STRONG ISLAND NETFLIXJoslyn Barnes, Produced byYance Ford, Produced by

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM (SINGLE OR MULTICAMERA)(Area Award: Possibility of one, more than one or no award.)BENNY MOUTHON, CAS, Re-Recording Mixer CNNAnthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownLagos

OUTSTANDING MOTION DESIGN(Juried Award: All entrants are screened by a jury of appropriate peer group members andone, more than one, or no award entry is awarded an Emmy.)MIKE PERRY, Animation DirectorISAM PRADO, Supervising AnimatorERICA PEREZ, AnimatorMAYA EDELMAN, AnimatorBARBARA BENAS, AnimatorCOMEDY CENTRALBroad CityMushrooms

OUTSTANDING INNOVATION IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA(Juried Award: All entrants are screened by a jury of appropriate peer group members andone, more than one, or no award entry is awarded an Emmy.)No Award Given